Bodies of Occupation: Monsters, Queers, and Others
A programme of online seminars - 16 September to 28 October 2021
Stories of foreign occupation are filled with bodies. By turns savage, ‘civilised’, enslaved, resisting, exploited, fetishised or ‘emancipated’, bodies mediate between the different forms, agencies, and spaces of occupation. As an ever-changing site of interaction between the occupier and the occupied, they are shapeshifters that reflect the unstable realities and perceptions of occupation itself. Building on notions such as ‘more-than-human’ and ‘slow violence’, the programme tries to unpack the specific corporeality of occupation. By inviting artists, scholars, and curators to explore the way human and nonhuman bodies exceed, rework, and queer the ‘frames’ of occupation, it aims to contribute fresh interdisciplinary insight into old/new contact zones, transitions, grey areas, and residues of occupation.
The programme will start on 16 September with a roundtable and will involve artists from around the world in conversation with discussants.
The series is directed by Dr Stéphanie Benzaquen-Gautier through the Cultures of Occupation in 20th Century Asia (COTCA) Project. This is a European Research Council-funded project based at University of Nottingham.
Download the full programme here
All seminars will take place via Zoom. Registration is free but necessary to access the seminars and related events.
Click here to register